lily
01-17-2007, 11:24 PM
This is the second time a university was hit. If you want to "rule" a country the first thing you need to do is get rid of the educated. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011600261.html?referrer=email)
Bombings Kill 60 at University In Baghdad
34,452 Iraqi Civilians Died Violently in '06, U.N. Says
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 -- The coordinated detonation of two bombs during the
after-school rush at a Baghdad university killed at least 60 people Tuesday
and wounded more than 140 in what university officials described as one of
the deadliest attacks on academia since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The spate of killings, which also included a bombing outside a Sunni Muslim
shrine in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of central Baghdad, made plain
the difficulties facing U.S. and Iraqi troops poised for their latest effort
to tamp down rampant violence in the capital. It coincided with a report
from the United Nations that said 34,452 Iraqi civilians died violently last
year -- an average of 94 per day -- an estimate nearly triple the death toll
provided by three Iraqi government ministries.
Gianni Magazzeni, chief of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, said the
killings were driven by strife between Sunni and Shiite militants. "Without
significant progress in the rule of law, sectarian violence will continue
indefinitely and eventually spiral out of control," he said.
News agencies reported that at least 30 other people died violently in Iraq
on Tuesday, bringing the day's total to about 100.
At Mustansiriya University, sophomore Dyana Ayad had finished her Arabic
elocution test, then walked through the college gardens, turned right toward
a pedestrian overpass and joined the crowd of students waiting for buses.
The pressure filled her ears a split second before she heard the sound of a
bomb.
"I saw unbelievable things," the 20-year-old recalled Tuesday night. "There
were tiny pieces of papers, burned papers everywhere. And dark smoke, white
smoke. . . . I saw arms, legs, body parts flying in the air. The sky was
raining burning paper and body parts."
Firefighters and police sped to the scene of the wreckage, near Palestine
Street in eastern Baghdad, doused the flaming cars and buses, and ferried
bloodied students to hospitals throughout the city. Students ran in panic to
find their friends, witnesses said, picking through what one student called
"pieces of meat."
The university's assistant president, Fadhil al-Amri, found a human head on
the ground outside his office, next to a severed hand.
"No matter what I say to you, it is nothing like what happened. It is
terrible," Amri said. "The terrorists are walking the streets in larger
numbers than the policemen or the soldiers in the army. They can't do
anything. There is no safety in this country."
About 24,000 students attend state-run Mustansiriya University's three
colleges, in a middle-class Sunni Arab and Shiite Muslim neighborhood.
University officials said there was no obvious sectarian motive behind the
attack. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the bombings on
supporters of deposed president Saddam Hussein. On Monday, two of Hussein's
co-defendants were hanged for crimes against humanity; Hussein was executed
Dec. 30.
"The followers of the ousted regime have been dealt a blow and their dreams
buried forever," Maliki said in a statement. "So Saddamists and terrorists
now target the world of knowledge and committed this act today against the
innocent students of Mustansiriya University."
Insurgent Threats
In early December, the insurgent group Ansar al-Sunna distributed statements
at mosques in western Baghdad, and on Web sites, calling on students and
professors to cancel classes in preparation for a purge of Shiite militias
from campuses. A Dec. 3 statement named Mustansiriya University as one of
the schools that should be closed.
Bombings Kill 60 at University In Baghdad
34,452 Iraqi Civilians Died Violently in '06, U.N. Says
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 -- The coordinated detonation of two bombs during the
after-school rush at a Baghdad university killed at least 60 people Tuesday
and wounded more than 140 in what university officials described as one of
the deadliest attacks on academia since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The spate of killings, which also included a bombing outside a Sunni Muslim
shrine in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of central Baghdad, made plain
the difficulties facing U.S. and Iraqi troops poised for their latest effort
to tamp down rampant violence in the capital. It coincided with a report
from the United Nations that said 34,452 Iraqi civilians died violently last
year -- an average of 94 per day -- an estimate nearly triple the death toll
provided by three Iraqi government ministries.
Gianni Magazzeni, chief of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, said the
killings were driven by strife between Sunni and Shiite militants. "Without
significant progress in the rule of law, sectarian violence will continue
indefinitely and eventually spiral out of control," he said.
News agencies reported that at least 30 other people died violently in Iraq
on Tuesday, bringing the day's total to about 100.
At Mustansiriya University, sophomore Dyana Ayad had finished her Arabic
elocution test, then walked through the college gardens, turned right toward
a pedestrian overpass and joined the crowd of students waiting for buses.
The pressure filled her ears a split second before she heard the sound of a
bomb.
"I saw unbelievable things," the 20-year-old recalled Tuesday night. "There
were tiny pieces of papers, burned papers everywhere. And dark smoke, white
smoke. . . . I saw arms, legs, body parts flying in the air. The sky was
raining burning paper and body parts."
Firefighters and police sped to the scene of the wreckage, near Palestine
Street in eastern Baghdad, doused the flaming cars and buses, and ferried
bloodied students to hospitals throughout the city. Students ran in panic to
find their friends, witnesses said, picking through what one student called
"pieces of meat."
The university's assistant president, Fadhil al-Amri, found a human head on
the ground outside his office, next to a severed hand.
"No matter what I say to you, it is nothing like what happened. It is
terrible," Amri said. "The terrorists are walking the streets in larger
numbers than the policemen or the soldiers in the army. They can't do
anything. There is no safety in this country."
About 24,000 students attend state-run Mustansiriya University's three
colleges, in a middle-class Sunni Arab and Shiite Muslim neighborhood.
University officials said there was no obvious sectarian motive behind the
attack. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the bombings on
supporters of deposed president Saddam Hussein. On Monday, two of Hussein's
co-defendants were hanged for crimes against humanity; Hussein was executed
Dec. 30.
"The followers of the ousted regime have been dealt a blow and their dreams
buried forever," Maliki said in a statement. "So Saddamists and terrorists
now target the world of knowledge and committed this act today against the
innocent students of Mustansiriya University."
Insurgent Threats
In early December, the insurgent group Ansar al-Sunna distributed statements
at mosques in western Baghdad, and on Web sites, calling on students and
professors to cancel classes in preparation for a purge of Shiite militias
from campuses. A Dec. 3 statement named Mustansiriya University as one of
the schools that should be closed.